Applied Materials to Acquire Tokyo Electron

Merged Firm to Have $29 Billion Market Capitalization

A deal to combine two of the semiconductor industry's biggest suppliers is the latest sign of technical and financial pressures confronting the electronics industry.

Applied Materials Inc. and Tokyo Electron Ltd., which supply costly machines that help turn silicon wafers into computer chips, on Tuesday described their all-stock deal as a merger of equals that would create a new company with a market value of $29 billion.